KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A Spectrum News 13 WatchDog investigation uncovers multiple claims that a local Blueberry Festival failed to pay up on its promises, leaving vendors and even local charities waiting for money.

• Florida Blueberry Festival took place at Formosa Gardens Winery Event Center in Kissimmee
• A vendor, charities, and landowner are waiting for money

George Chan owns Formosa Gardens Winery, where the festival took place. The festival operated for years in Brooksville, in Hernando County, before finding its new home.

Chan says he was excited for a chance to bring in new tourism and welcomed the festival with open arms.  

“We leased the property to the directors of the Florida Blueberry Festival for a mere hundred dollars over four days on 19 acres of property that is worth millions,” Chan said.

Chan claims he also loaned directors of the Florida Blueberry Festival more than half a million dollars to make improvements to his land in preparation for the festival.

News 13 obtained a copy of that promissory note listing the principal borrow amount at $578,000 and is signed by the “Maker” of the agreement, Florida Blueberry Festival President Michael Heard.

Chan says he’s left with regret being unable to reach Heard.

“We are left holding the bag of over half a million dollars,” Chan said.

Chan is not alone in feeling cheated.

“They had promised electricity to the booth, the site map that they provided to the artist looked like it was on grass with the booth numbers it was obviously not the map that was the site,” Bonnie Keane said.

Electricity, as Keane points out, is promised on the call sheet we obtained from "Zapplication," which handled festival transactions. Keane says Heard promised to make things right.

“Before I even started going into it, she apologized. She was embarrassed, she said, 'I know. I will refund your money, just give me time with this festival to get this over with.' She had promised me to return the money by the 15th of April,” Keane said.

Keane says she still hasn’t been paid. Festival phone numbers continued to be unanswered and the event website has been shut down. She isn’t the only one waiting for money.

The festival listed four nonprofit beneficiaries. We called them and none had received donations from the Blueberry Festival.

“They promised us that a lot of the proceeds would go towards charities in Osceola County in Central Florida those charities mattered to me and to our team here at the winery,” Chan said.

We eventually did find contacts for Heard and made several phone calls and sent emails.

Days later, we got a text message from Heard that says in part, “The Florida Blueberry Festival would like to thank everyone that attended the festival last month and apologize to the vendors, concessioners, patrons, sponsors, and charities whose expectations were not met.”

The message goes on to say, “Permitting and construction delays caused the venue to not be completed as anticipated and the result was a site less than desirable to many.”

Heard also says the festival fell well short of goals and that people impacted by the festival will be notified. No mention of Keane’s refund, or Chan’s repayment.

“We are in a deep financial hole that they dug and kind of nudged us over the edge,” Chan said.

Heard did not respond to News 13’s request for an on camera interview, but said she has been told by “council” to not discuss the situation until things are resolved. The News 13 Watchdog team asked to speak with her “council” and she says they will have no comment at this time either.

On Saturday, May 18, after the story initially aired, Heard said to News 13 via text message, "I haven't skipped town, people can reach me if they make the effort." The message went on to say, "Your source is not reliable."